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| HEALTH OFFICIALS LOOK FOR SAVINGS FROM LONG TERM CARE PROGRAM |
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WPR News - Health officials look for savings from long term care program
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Tuesday March 13, 2012
by Shamane Mills
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(UNDATED) Long term care advocates say they're concerned about caregiver burnout. And they say Wisconsin may be overestimating projected savings from uncompensated care that relatives provide.
State health officials need to find nearly $80 million in savings from a popular program that keeps the elderly and disabled out of nursing homes. The administration wants to know what assistance friends and family are giving so that care isn't replaced by Medicaid services. Helen Marks Dicks is with AARP Wisconsin. At a public hearing she said it's important for family and friends to utilize paid support services, "They don't know there's respite care, they don't know there are services that they can either pay for or are paid for by these programs. So we're burning people out something awful."
Other advocates at the public hearing suggested money-saving architectural changes. Howard Mandeville is with Moving Out, an organization that helps disabled people rent or purchase their own home. He says the state could save money by giving disabled persons the ability to do more daily living activities by themselves, "The example that I mentioned in the hearing was a man who previously had required the expense of two caregivers together at the same time to help heft, lift him, safely and place him in the bathtub because the place he lived had a bathtub, not a roll-in shower."
Mandeville also suggested the state health department could use less of its long term care budget on housing by utilizing alternative pots of money, for example, from the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
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